Welcome!

Hey there, friends.

It's been a year since my last newspaper column. 

People still ask if I miss it, and I do.

I miss chasing the stories that consumed me, elevating voices still missing from vital conversations. I miss the privilege of the platform, and everything it made possible. 

Sometimes, I even miss deadlines. But don't quote me on that.

What I don't miss: the old, lingering idea that journalism only counts when it comes stamped with a familiar nameplate. That idea is crumbling, and it should. More reporters are stepping out, or being forced out, from under legacy mastheads and building their own thing. Don Lemon's doing it nationally. Claudia Vargas is doing it locally, on Substack. 

We support news-preneurs in this corner of the internet. Believe that.

As for me, I'm not done. I left the newsroom, not news.

And credible news has never mattered more, especially local news, delivered by people who center the people. That's what I did for years in Philadelphia, and Hartford before that: called public officials to account, centered families of homicide victims that the city forgot, built community through everything from pop-up newsrooms, a support group for paralyzed gunshot survivors and gatherings attended by hundreds on the iconic Art Museum steps. 

I'm here. Still watching. Still full of questions and opinions. And judgement, so much judgement for all the folks still doing that Philly Shrug more than a decade after I coined the term for the apathetics and apologists. I’ve been thinking of crowning a monthly Shameful Shrugger. There would be no lack of local or national contenders.

What happens in Washington and across the world, on Immigration, democracy, technology, climate, health, and the economy reaches all of our neighborhoods, our families, our futures. 

I'll keep watch from Philadelphia. But this newsletter won't stop at city limits. For instance, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in Asbury Park, N.J. this year, a city wrestling with familiar tensions between growth and inequality, history and change. It’s a fascinating place.

This Notes From Hel newsletter is about staying curious, staying connected, and keeping the conversations going.

Some weeks we'll unpack the biggest national story. Some weeks, I’d guess many weeks, we’ll focus on how national events affect us locally. There’s a lot of good content that falls through the cracks in this 24/7 hellscape of a news cycle we’re in, so I’ll also highlight work I think we shouldn’t miss. But I’ll also periodically turn our attention to stuff to lift our spirits and faith in one another, because life is hard.

And sometimes we'll zoom way out to journalism itself, where it's headed, what it's losing, what we need to build next.

If you know my work, you know where I stand: journalism needs more diverse voices, especially Latina voices. Talent has never been the problem. Opportunity has. Too many Latina journalists get overlooked, undervalued, stuck proving themselves over and over again in a field that still doesn't fully see their worth. Too many leave newsrooms that actually need them now more than ever.

That’s a big part of why I left the newsroom to grow The Ñ Fund for Latinas in Journalism, an initiative to get more Latina reporters, and columnists, into the fold.

For me, it was often lonely being the first and only. It was devastating to realize I was sometimes the last.

So from time to time, I'll introduce you to some fellow firsts and onlys, Latina journalists you should know, like Abby Cruz, a former Daily News intern who built her career, and killer resume, in Washington and then recently came home with a fire to develop the next generation. 

That's the paying-it-forward journalism Philadelphia needs.

There is a lot of talk about the future of journalism, much of it from folks white-knuckling their grip on power. Here’s the thing I’m sure of, though: It lives in the storytellers, the teachers, and the leaders who act with integrity and heart, and who are finally ready to listen, really listen, to the people and communities they’ve long dismissed and disrespected. And no, not just ones at a diner in rural America.

Thanks for finding me here, and thanks in advance for following and subscribing. Don’t hesitate to reach out, to say hey, to send a tip, an idea, a thought.

We built community in Hartford. Then in Philadelphia. I have no doubt we’ll build it in this corner of the internet, too. 

The byline may have changed. But the mission hasn’t.

—Hel